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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon

Time: 8:52 pm

Results for sentencing (california)

2 results found

Author: Weisberg, Robert

Title: Life in Limbo: An Examination of Parole Release for Prisoners Serving Life Sentences with the Possibility of Parole in California

Summary: In recent years, California’s prison system has been under federal judicial control because of severe overcrowding, which partly results from the recycling of revoked inmates under parole supervision. The federal litigation has cast a sharp focus on the mandatory parole system created by the 1976 Determinate Sentencing Law and viewed as the legal mechanism by which this recycling has developed. But far too little attention has been given to the prison population serving life sentences with the possibility of parole under older indeterminate sentencing principles, a population that as of 2010 represents a fifth of California state prisoners. More than 32,000 inmates comprise the “lifer” category, i.e., inmates who are eligible to be considered for release from prison after screening by the parole board to determine when and under what condition. (This group of prisoners is distinct from the much smaller population of 4,000 individuals serving life sentences without the possibility of parole (LWOP)). The goal of this project is to examine in empirical detail (a) the lifer population, covering key details of its demographics, and (b) the processes by which lifers are considered for release, including an examination of historical trends in grant and denial rates, the recidivism record of released inmates, and legal and policy analysis of the specific mechanisms of the parolee hearing process. Despite the importance of the lifer population in terms of its size and the major legal and policy changes that have occurred to the parole process for lifers in the last several years, little research has yet been devoted to this topic. This is the first in a series of reports the Stanford Criminal Justice Center (SCJC) will be issuing on this topic. It describes the scope of the population of prisoners serving life sentences with the possibility of parole, as well as the process by which they are considered for release. It also includes initial analysis from our research examining Board of Parole Hearings transcripts the factors that might correlate with grant and denial decisions. Finally, this report identifies important research questions we are now pursuing.

Details: Stanford, CA: Stanford Criminal Justice Center, 2011. 30p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 23, 2011 at: http://www.law.stanford.edu/display/images/dynamic/publications_pdf/SCJC%20Lifer%20Parole%20Release%20Sept%202011.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: United States

URL: http://www.law.stanford.edu/display/images/dynamic/publications_pdf/SCJC%20Lifer%20Parole%20Release%20Sept%202011.pdf

Shelf Number: 122807

Keywords:
Life Imprisonment
Life Sentence
Life Without Parole
Lifers
Parole
Sentencing (California)

Author: Krisberg, Barry

Title: Getting the Genie Back in the Bottle: California's Prison Gulag

Summary: The California prison population pushed past 172,000 in 2006, even though it rarely exceeded 30,000 during most of the 20th century. In fact, as late as 1976, the inmate population was just above 20,000 (NCCD, 2008). While there are several reasons for this phenomenal growth in the prison population, there is little doubt that changes in sentencing laws enacted by the Legislature or passed through voter initiatives fed the ever larger correctional leviathan. Crime rates actually declined during these three decades, with the largest declines occurring between 1991 and 2000; crime rates have remained low since the mid-1990s.

Details: Berkeley, CA: The Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy, University of California, Berkeley School of Law, 2011. 6p.

Source: Issue Brief: Internet Resource: Accessed August 22, 2012 at http://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/Krisberg_-_Getting_the_Genie_Back_in_the_Bottle_-_101711.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: United States

URL: http://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/Krisberg_-_Getting_the_Genie_Back_in_the_Bottle_-_101711.pdf

Shelf Number: 126095

Keywords:
Corrections (California)
Determinate Sentencing (California)
Indeterminate Sentences (California)
Prison Population (California)
Sentencing (California)